A swine nutritionist with the University of Manitoba warns including excess levels of dried distillers grains with solubles in hog rations can have a negative impact on performance.
With an increased emphasis on biofuels dried distillers grains with solubles, a byproduct of ethanol production, have become a readily available relatively low cost feed ingredient for livestock.
Dr. Martin Nyachoti, an animal science professor with the University of Manitoba points out, because most of the starch is removed during the fermentation process, other compounds, such as fibre, protein, nitrogen and phosphorus are more concentrated in DDGS than in the grains from which they’re derived.
First and foremost it’s important to recognize that these could become an important ingredient that one can utilize in their formulations.
However considerations again will be the amounts that can be safely included in the diet without affecting feed intake or the efficiency of feed utilization.
The other consideration is to look at what this ingredient will bring into the ration and account for it in the formulation.
For example the phosphorus content is fairly high and also the proportion of available phosphorus is a lot higher in DDGS than for example the cereal grain from which it is derived.
That should be taken into consideration so as to make adjustments in the formulation to make sure that we don’t over supply these nutrients and keep the price of the feed down while not wasting any nutrients.
Dr. Nyachoti notes, if included in the ration at levels that are too high, the high fibre content in DDGS will tend to reduce feed intake which will impact performance.
He recommends a maximum inclusion of 10 percent DDGS for the growing pig and no more than 15 to 20 percent in a sow ration to avoid problems with performance.
Source: Farmscape.Ca
